Lightner v. Lightner

• Decision Date: 21 November 1895
• Parties: LIGHTNER et al. v. LIGHTNER et al.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

23 S.E. 301

LIGHTNER et al.

v.LIGHTNER et al.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Nov. 21, 1895.

Parol Gift of Land — Enforcement — Sufficiency of Evidence.

1. Though a court of equity will compel the conveyance of the legal title of land claimed under parol gift, supported by consideration, by reason of which the donee has been induced to alter his condition and put valuable improvements on the land, where the donee claims the gift was on certain conditions, and the evidence as to the terms of the contract and as to the acts of part performance relied on is not satisfactory, and does not establish the elements of the donee's demand by a clear preponderance of proof, but leaves the whole controversy doubtful and obscure, conveyance of the title will not be decreed.

2. A bill by L., for the enforcement of a parol gift of a farm by his father, alleged, and the evidence showed, that L. went on the farm as a renter from his father, and continued as such about four years, when his father, learning that he intended to buy another farm, said, "Do not do that; stay where you are, and improve the land. I give you that farm, only requiring you to pay $3,500, "—and that, relying on such promise, he remained on the farm, cultivating and using it as his own, and making on it valuable improvements; but the evidence showed that his father continued to pay the taxes, and that L. frequently admitted that his father owned it, and he lived on it as a renter, with the option to buy. It did not appear that any part of the $3,500 was paid, held, that a conveyance to L. would not be decreed.

Appeal from circuit court, Augusta county; William McLaughlin, Judge.

Action by Lightner and others against John A. Lightner and others, for the settlement of the estate of Alexander B. Lightner, deceased, in which defendants John A. Lightner and the widow and children of Charles A. Lightner, deceased, filed cross bills. 'From a decree confirming a report of a commissioner in chancery denying plaintiffs in the cross bills any relief, they appeal. Affirmed.

Patrick & Gordon, for appellant.

Geo. M. Cochran, James Bumgardner, and R. P. Bell, for appellees.

KEITH, P. This was a suit brought in the circuit court of Augusta county by cer tain of the children and heirs at law of Alexander B. Lightner for the settlement of his estate, real and personal, for the payment of his debts, and the division of what remained among bis heirs and distributees. John A. Lightner and the widow and children of Charles A. Lightner, who, with others, were parties defendant to this bill, filed their answers, which are taken as cross bills, in which they set out that Charles A. Lightner, in his lifetime, had been, by his father, A. B. Lightner, put in possession of a tract of land of 280 acres, near West View, in Beverly Manor district, Augusta county, and that the said tract had been for years in the exclusive possession and use of their father, Charles A. Lightner; that Alexander B. Lightner was a man of large property; that Charles A. Lightner had remained with him and worked for him without compensation for a number of years after he attained his majority; that he had received no compensation therefor, always under the promise from the father that those years of labor by him would be liberally compensated; that in 1879 Charles A. Lightner, the father of the defendants, was renting the farm in question from Robert G. Bickle, then its owner, his purpose being to become ultimately its purchaser. In this attitude of affairs, Alexander B. Lightner bought the farm in his own name from Bickle for the sum of $9,000, saying to Charles: "I have bought this farm for you. It is your farm. I owe you for seven years' labor, which, with the accumulated interest, amounts to a very considerable sum, and I am going to give you part of it, and the residue I want you to pay for. Go ahead with the farm. It is yours. I want you to pay me $3,000 as fast as you can make the money. You bring it to me until you have paid the $3,000, and when it is all paid, I will make you a deed to the farm." The widow and children of Charles A. Lightner aver that he, relying upon his father's promise, accepted this proposition, and acted upon it. The contract was never reduced to writing. It is claimed, however, that Charles went on and used and occupied the farm as his own; that he made and saved money, and was a thrifty and prosperous man; that at various times he paid large sums to his father, and made costly and valuable improvements upon the place. John A. Lightner answered, and his answer is also taken as a cross bill, and in it he claims that, upon coming of age, in 1879, he continued to live and work with his father until March, 1881, when he went to Maryland and engaged in business for himself. While there his father wrote to him to come home, urging him to come on account of his sickness. He returned, and his father told him that all the other boys had left him and were in business for themselves, and he must remain at home and work and manage the farm, and he would see that everything was made all right; that an advantageous proposition was made to him, which he declined, although it was flatteringand lucrative, in order to accept his father's offer. In December, 1881, John A. Lightner was married, and shortly thereafter his father moved away from the Buffalo Branch farm, upon which they were living together, and left his son John A. Lightner upon the farm in charge of it as a renter. Becoming dissatisfied with this arrangement, John A. Lightner, in 1886, determined to buy a place known as the "Zirkle Farm, " and settle upon it, so that he might get "the proceeds of his own labor and skill, and make some provision for his family." Upon informing his father of his purpose, he represents that his father said to him: "No; do not do that. Stay where you are and improve that land. I give you that farm, only requiring you to pay me $3,500." Upon this promise and undertaking upon the part of his father, he abandoned "all idea of moving away and establishing himself elsewhere, and since that time he claims that, with the full consent and knowledge of his father, he has held and used the land as his own; that he has expended considerable sums of money on improvements upon the farm, such as removing rock, putting up fencing, planting orchards, building barns and stables, and other improvements. The father died without ever having executed deeds to these several parcels of land now claimed by his son John A. and by the widow and children of his son Charles, and the other children and heirs at law of A. B. Lightner utterly deny that there...